When we wuz kids together, an' we didn't have a care,
In the lazy days of summer, when our feet wuz allus bare,
When a hat warn't necessary, an' a necktie in the way,
An' there warn't a blessed thing to do but scamper off an' play,
Then the sun meant something to us, an' the blue skies overhead
Kinder stooped down in the meadows where the children wuz, and said:
" Trout are bitin' in the mill stream, hurry up an' git yer pole,
Now's the time you should be hikin' t' yer fav'rit fishin' hole. "

When we wuz kids together, an' there warn't a thing t' fret,
'Cept comin' home to mother with our hair suspicious wet,
Then the sunbeams an' the song birds used to come t' us an' say:
" They are swimmin' in th' river, better git there right away,
As we passed 'em we could hear-'em, laughin', splashin' down below. "
Then we hurried to the river, just as fast as we could go,
For there warn't a thing to keep us like there is now we are men,
An' the sunbeams an' the song birds an' the skies meant somethin' then.

Now the same sunbeams come callin', an' the same song birds come near,
An' the same blue skies bend o'er me an' their messages I hear;
Every dancing sunbeam tells me that out yonder in the stream
Now the pickerel are bitin', but I only sit an' dream,
For I've journeyed past my boyhood, I'm a slave forevermore,
An' I must not heed their whispers as I used to do of yore.
There are bills to meet and duties that I must not, dare not shirk;
Mr. Sunbeam, quit yer coaxin', it's no use, I've got to work.